All wars are created equal
by KuroiTori-sama
Summary: The 12 year old Minato and Noriaki were sitting in side of the academy classroom, bored to death. That is until an unknown young redhead entered through the classroom door and changed their lives forever. Summary kinda sucks. Full summary inside
1. Chapter one: The ninja academy

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**_

Rating T (I guess)

Summary: Adventure/romance/friendship. NO YAOI (That stuff grosses me out). NOT A CRACK FIC (because I don't see a point in writing them). The 12 year old Minato and Noriaki were sitting in side of the academy classroom, bored to death. It was going to be just another day in class. Or so they thought. That is until an unknown young redhead entered through the classroom door and changed their lives forever.  
The story depicts the friendship between Minato and Noriaki (OC) and their strives to claim the title Yondaime and become the next Hokage. Also shows Kushina's introduction, the later development of love rivalry between the two best friends, and the trio's growing up to become legends of the leaf.

Note, spoilers - I will use all the available Naruto data to make this work. Although I won't make the story follow the canon version I will use all the stuff shown/explained all the way up to the latest chapters (I'll also use the upcoming ones as well, to the best of my abilities).

Couples: None at the beginning they're only 12 years old.

Mini author note:

"Konoha" –talking

'_Konoha' _–thinking

(Hope this explains it, now let the story begin)

**-All wars are created equal-**

Chapter one: The ninja academy

It was a bright and sunny day in Konoha and the skies barely had any clouds, as the villagers moved about their business, one black-haired boy pushed his way through the crowd.

"Excuse me! Out of the way! Please move aside sir!" his apologetic cries echoed throughout the village streets. In a moment he dodged a woman stepping outside the store "Sorry ma'am!", he shouted at her.

Running through the crowded streets at full speed wasn't an easy task, but the boy didn't have that much of a choice. It was the day when their sensei would announce the requirements for the upcoming genin exams – and he was late! And why was he late? What could possibly make him late for something that important?

'_Minato! I'm going to strangle you!'_

Well that about sums it up. The boy's best friend the blond genius, as some people called him (or blonde idiot, as he called him) was nowhere to be found.

'_Where the hell did that idiot go to now?'_, the boy asked himself. They only had ten more minutes to get to class. '_Maybe he went on without me?'_ he wondered. '_Yea, right! When pigs fly!'_ That lazy bum probably didn't even know that there was supposed to be a class today!

As he reached the bottom of the legendary Hokage monument, he began to consider his options. He could continue to look for the idiot and end up late… On the other hand, he could abandon Minato and go to the class alone. Well, in that case there was only one thing left for him to do then… Inhaling sharply, he shouted at the top of his voice:

"OI! MINATO YA BLOND IMBECILE! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, MORON!"

"NO NEED TO SHOUT! I CAN HEAR YOU!", a voice shouted back at him. The boy looked around himself, trying to pinpoint the location of the now very dead blond idiot, only to figure out that it came from above him. Lifting his gaze up he saw the blue-wearing spiky-haired blond standing on top of the Sandaime's face, and sight in relief.

"OI, GET DOWN FROM THERE! WE NEED TO-… HEY WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!", he yelled at the blond when the crazy kid started running down the cliff face of the monument.

"Show-of.", he mumbled as the Minato landed next to him.

"Jealous, Yondaime~sama?" the blonde teased.

"Hey don't you be making fun of me! I will be the Yondaime Hokage! Just wait an see!" , the black-haired boy furiously replied.

"Oh yea? And since when were you the kind of material Konoha requires for the Hokage?"

"Like, always", the black-haired boy replied, confidently.

"More like, in your dreams, Noriaki!"

Upon hearing this, the boy Noriaki faked a pout, while looking at a chuckling blonde with a deadly glare. They did this sort of arguing all the time, with the _in your dreams _phrase as the finishing line. The question of which boy gets to use it was answered simply – the one who started to tease. It was this constant arguing that turned them into rivals.

'_And after all it was because we are rivals that we managed to… do… so…much… in … class?' _Noriaki felt a light bulb turning on inside his head.

"THE CLASS!", both boys shouted. Clearly they where telepathic. Right?

As they darted of towards the academy, which was convinienly out of reach in under five minutes, the two boys decided to make it a race. Why? Well to see which one was faster, of course! The fact that they were running at near breakneck speeds didn't seem to stop them from arguing along the way.

"This is all your fault, idiot!"

"What, MY fault!"

"YES YOUR FAULT! If you haven't gotten yourself so conveniently lost…" Noriaki yelled, "we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place!"

"Well if YOU hadn't taken your sweat time in stating how much of a great Hokage you would be", Minato shouted back at the boy, "we would have had minutes to spare in stead of running like crazy!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, IDIOT!"

"YOU HEAR ME, FUTURE HOKAGE-HIME-SAMA!"

Now if anybody else had done what Minato just did, Noriaki would have probably punched them in the face and left them lying in the dust, but since Minato wasn't serious about his insult (or at least Noriaki hoped he wasn't) he could let it slip by.

'_And besides, I can use it against him when he starts talking about being Hokage next time.'_ Despite his best attempts, he failed to suppress a mischievous smile on his face.

Running right next to him, a certain blonde felt a chill running down his spine. '_Oh, boy… What is he up to now?'_ The blonde wondered.

As they kept running they came to a corner and making a sharp turn left they considered slowing down, after all the academy was just a few meters away… Only, they didn't expect to slow down so… how to put it… suddenly.

As they made their turn they ran directly in to the people you _don't_ run in to at that speed. Ever. Looking up, the two boys saw the Sandaime Hokage himself plus his advisors Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane.

"What is the meaning of this? Explain yourselves, NOW!" The glasses-wearing advisor demanded, trying to get up of the ground and dust himself off, as Hokage himself was helping the elderly woman to stand up. Minato was the first to recover.

"Ah, eh, hmmm, our deepest apologies, Mitokado-sama, Utatane-sama, Hokage-sama! We were late for class and, hmmm, sorry!" And with that he nudged Noriaki, who conveniently landed head first, falling somewhat sideways and bashing his own head. Still somewhat dazed he tried his best to sound apologetic as his companion… And failed miserably.

"Yes, we're, um, very sorry", said the black-haired boy, eyes set looking ninety degrees of target, "It won't happen again, Mitoku-, Mitoka-, Mitoko-, err, eh, err… Sir!" the boy nearly shouted, causing a burst of laughter coming from the so-called god-of-shinobi, the Sandaime Hokage, Hizuren Sarutobi.

Taking matters in to his own hands, the Hokage and his advisors stood before the two boys.

"Well, what are your names then?" Kohatu Utatana asked.

"Minato Namikaze / Noriaki, the future Yondaime Hokage of Konoha!" the two boys shouted in unison.

"Well, aren't you a determined bunch of children. Looks like I might have to steep down in a few years, don't you think?" The Hokage laughed. It was obvious to the duo that the Hokage was enjoying the joke he made. What they didn't know, however, was that inwardly he was hoping that such a thing would come true. To the Hokage at least, it felt as if the temperature suddenly dropped by a few degrees as he remembered the ominous towers of paperwork that awaited him in the office. For the millionth time since he became the Hokage, the Sandaime considered that seppuku wasn't **that** painful.

"Tell me Noriaki, was it? What is your last name?" the elderly advisor Utatane asked.

"Er, see… I don't know, Utatane-sama", Noriaki replied, happy that the ringing noise in his head had finally stopped.

"How do you mean that?"

"Well, back in the orphanage they gave me the name Noriaki, or maybe I came to the orphanage with that name… Nobody I asked knew for certain, so since they didn't have a last name to pin to me I'm just Noriaki." Hearing this, the look on Minato's face grew serious. He knew the story of course, Noriaki was his best friend after all. However, it always made him mad to think that somebody would abandon their own child – no matter the excuse.

"Well okay then that would be all. Off you go kids. Hurry to class!" The Hokage said cheerfully.

"Hai!", the boys answered in unison. As they began to run again, Noriaki caught a glimpse of a long read hair, and girl that the hair belonged to standing behind the Hokage. As he looked at her, he noticed that she acted relatively shy and timid, but considering the situation, he could understand it. But why was she escorted by the three most important people in Konoha?

'_No time now for that. Got to get to class!'_

* * *

In class, approximately five minutes later, fifteen minutes since the class started…

The boy's were sitting at their desks, still breathing hard from exhaustion. Looking towards their sensei, Noriaki saw that the man was already finished explaining the exams and was now focusing on another boring lesson of history of the Land of Fire. Leaning over towards the short black-haired girl, noticing her Uchiha crest, he addressed her with a whisper.

"Oi, Mikoto-chan, did we miss anything?"

The girl leaned towards him and whispered back, slightly giggling. "Oh just everything… Like usual, Nori-chan. Don't worry, I took notes.", she said, while handing him the notes. "Here you can copy them."

Smiling gratefully, he took them from her. "Thanks, Mikoto-chan…"

"You're welcome… Nori-chan." That's why he liked the girl. '_Not like __**like**__!' _He immediately corrected himself! '_Just like, like her – as a friend, maybe even like a sister.' _Unlike most of the snobbish Uchiha, Mikoto was kind and caring, someone who you could count on no matter what. She was also the only one who could get away with calling him Nori-chan, as the Hokage himself learnt – the hard way. Looking back at her, his smile grew larger. That is until he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head.

"Ouch! Why did you hit me for, Yoshino-san!" The boy asked the girl behind him.

"What do you mean, why? I'm trying to listen the sensei! And you are too loud!" The brown-haired girl answered.

'_I think you're louder than me, Yoshino-teme… Not that I would ever say stuff like that to her face though, or Minato would have to look for a new rival…'_

At the same time, the blond genius, otherwise known as Minato Namikaze was sitting in the front row, trying to look at least a bit interested in today's class of history. '_Indeed a task worthy of a hero – since nobody else would be stupid enough to endure such a torture.' _And to ignore it was made even more difficult by the numerous fan girls surrounding him. Normally he would greet any distraction, but these girls were… Minato felt a chill going down his spine just for thinking about it. Just a few moments ago, he overheard one of them whispering _I hope he marries me! _He felt his eye twitch.

'_Come on damn it! I'm only twelve for crying out loud! Not like I'm going to marry anyone for at least another ten years! And maybe I won't get married at all!'_ Considering how the girls of his age acted the second option was probably for the best. Glancing over his shoulder he saw Noriaki whispering with Mikoto and Inoichi, and occasionally look over his shoulder to say something to the _monster_, or Youshino Nara of the Nara branch family, as she was otherwise known. On several occasions, she actually hit him on the back of the head, telling, more like shouting, at Noriaki to be quiet. '_Why's that idiot still talking is beyond me, and why is sensei ignoring- ah yea of course, he doesn't want to mess with the monster either - coward '_, Minato sighed, only to realize his mistake – now the fan girls were looking at him even more! '_Oh, no… When will this day end?' _the blond mused.

And then the noticed something. It sounded like voices on the other side of the classroom door. Immediately, Minato stared at the door, hopeful that what lay behind it would be his salvation.

Their sensei turned around. "Well, that's it for the history today. I want you to study about the relationship between the Shodai Hokage and the Daimyo for your homework.", and then he smirked. "We also seem to have a new student here so I would like us to give her our welcome. Come on in.", he said looking towards the door and in an instant crushed all hopes of salvation for Minato.

'_Not another girl, please not another annoying girl! Haven't I suffered enough?'_

And then she came in. In an instant all eyes were on her, examining her every move, assessing whether this new girl was a threat (for the girls after Minato) or a good looking girl (for the boys). She walked up to the sensei's desk and gave a nervous look to everyone present. Everyone felt the eerie atmosphere forming inside the classroom. And then…

"TOMATO GIRL!" Someone shouted in the back rows, only to scream in pain as a heavy book slammed in to his face, courtesy of one very impatient black-haired boy, a.k.a. Noriaki.

"Just shout up Fugaku, and let's get this over with!", the boy yelled.

"For once we agree Noriaki, indeed let us continue. Now how about you introduce yourself to the class?" Said the teacher.

The girl seemed even more nervous than before; obviously, her new nickname wasn't helping her. "Um, what should I say…? I…"

"Well, why don't we show you how it's done then… Any volunteers?"

Several hands were in the air.

"Excellent! Why don't we start with Nara-san?"

"But…! But…! I didn't raise my hand and-" Shikaku begun, only to stop as he received a deadly glare from another Nara, and this other one was wary angry. Deciding it was better not to get on the monster's bad side ('_does she even have a good side?' _Shikaku wondered) he stood up.

"How troublesome… My name is Shikaku Nara. What I like…", he paused to yawn, "… never mind. My dreams for the future…" he shrugged, "I'll inform you when I find out…", he paused to yawn for the second time, secretly enjoying the fact that he was annoying everyone around with his antics, "That's all I can think of."

Their sensei took a step forward, calling out a second name. "Minato Namikaze!"

'_He's doing this on purpose isn't he?'_ Of course Minato didn't raise his had. He wanted to avoid the possibility of getting another fan girl at all costs. '_Why me, damn it?' _But none the less he stood up.

"Well, um… My name is M-…"

"MY NAME IS KUSHINA UZUMAKI, AND I WILL BE THE FIRST FEMALE HOKAGE!", the girl yelled out, catching everyone off guard.

Minato blinked once, twice, then again… Did he just get another rival for the position of Hokage? '_Well that's just great! Wait, did she say that… So she's not just another mindless cone girl!'_ He looked at the girl again. Kushina, eh? Something told him he should remember it.

"Oi, what are you looking at, **flaky**?"

"F-F-Fla-Flaky?" Flaky! Of all the things she could have said! Of all the things she could have called him… Flaky was NOT one of them!

"Come on, I'm still waiting for your introduction, **flaky**!"

Everybody in the classroom was quiet. They all knew that Minato is one of the two who would probably be declared as the rookies of the year.

"My name is Minato Namikaze, and I want to be a great Hokage, that everyone in the village will respect!"

"Yea, when pigs fly – **flaky**!"

Now, to say that Minato was pissed off would be an understatement of the century – he was down right furious! Yes, he was mad for her mocking his dream, but that nickname! He just knew he wouldn't be allowed to live it down. The fact that his so-called best friend was laughing his ass off seemed to confirm it. '_Why me, god? Why me?'_

He decided to not look in Kushina's direction for the remainder of the class.

* * *

Out side the academy, an hour after Kushina's introduction…

The two boys stood outside with their friends, Mikoto Uchiha of the Uciha branch family, and Inoichi Yamanaka, the future head of the Yamanaka clan.

"Oi, come on Minato, let's go get some ramen at Ichiraku's. I hear that old man Shuhei makes the best ramen in Konoha.", Inoichi asked. This immediately got the blondes attention. It was a public secret that Minato was a ramen fanatic. Every one in the two-mile radius heard his reply.

"Eh, what are we waiting here for? Let's go!" Mikoto could only laugh as the so-called genius begun to act like a complete idiot. And over food no less. '_He really is an idiot, isn't he?'_ That reminds me, speaking of an idiot…

"Hey, Nori-chan?" The boy turned towards her.

"Yea, Mikoto-chan?"

She tried to warn him. "That wasn't very smart, embarrassing Fugaku like that. Now he and his friends might try to get their revenge if you're not careful."

"Fugaku and his little gang of Uchiha losers? No need to worry, Mikoto-chan! I can take them all on, heck I'll kick their asses all the way across Konoha if they try something like that!", the boy clamed boldly. In a second, they froze as they heard a sound that could be described only as a lion's roar.

"What was **that**!" They turned around, only to se a blushing Minato standing there smiling with his sheepish grin.

"Sorry guys, but I'm hungry! And our ramen is getting cold! You can't blame my stomach for complaining can you?"

"As I was saying…" Mikoto stated, "You're not taking it seriously enough, Nori-chan! I heard them main branch people bragging how the future head of the Uchiha clan has developed the Sharingan! With the Sharingan he can-…" but Noriaki cut her off.

"I know what he can do with the Sharingan. He can copy all my techniques, and can have an easier time reading through my moves. But that's it. That's all. When a Sharingan is developed, it has only two tomoe, some times only one. He still needs the third tomoe to use Sharingan-type genjutsu and he still needs me to know some techniques he doesn't in order to copy them. Plus he needs the body speed to catch up with my taijutsu. He doesn't have any of it. All he has now are some pretty but useless red eyes. So like I said before no need to worry, Mikoto-chan."

Mikoto could only roll her eyes.

"Only you of all people would call the Sharingan useless, Nori-chan! Just don't say I didn't warn you later, ok?"

They were now some half way to the Ichiraku's when Inoichi aked them.

"Hey what do you think about the newest addition to the class?"

"She seems okay, I guess. What do you think Nori-chan?"

"She's not okay… She is much, much better then okay!" Noriaki yelled, ad then poked Minato in the shoulder. "Isn't that right, eh **flaky**?" The next moment Noriaki was standing with his hands holding his face after a collision with the blond's fist. "I'll take that as a maybe, then…"

"I think we should be a bit nicer to her. After all, she's all alone in this village. Maybe we should invite her to have lunch with us?" Inoichi said, causing Minato to trip.

"What!"

"Oh, come on Minato, she doesn't even know you.' Mikoto said. "Just try and give her another chance okay?" After hearing a mumbled answer she interpreted as a yes, she turned to her three friends. "Well! Which one of us is going back for her?"

"Don't look at me," Inoichi immediately answered, "I have to go find Choza and Shikaku… You know what they're like if we leave them out."

"Hey, I'm paying for this… Ah never mind, go find them.", Minato said. "But I'm not going back to get the new girl, she'd most likely laugh at me again."

"Alright but, as loud as she is, I have to get Tsume Inuzuka too." Mikoto added.

"Okay, okay… I get it, I'll go, alright!"

"Then you better hurry Nori-chan, you have the longest way to go!" And with that the group scattered with each member going the other direction.

* * *

Back at the academy, at the exact moment when Noriaki returned to ask Kuahina to join them…

The five boys were standing in a circle, with two kids in the center. One of the two was a girl with long red hair. Everyone else there bore the Uchiha crest. "Well aren't you a loudmouthed little girl, eh? What are you going to do now that there is no one to save you brat? Are you going to cry… Tomato girl?"

"Don't call me that!" The Uchiha boys just laughed at her.

"I'll call you what ever I want you trash!"

"Don't-"

"Or what? You will go cry to your mommy? Oh, but what's this I hear? YOU don't have a mommy. You don't even have a daddy. You don't even have a home – trash." Fugaku was just standing there, insulting her. And Noriaki certainly had had enough. Sharingan or no Sharingan, one Uchiha or half the damn clan, it did not matter. Hearing all that made him remember the orphanage, remember the consequences of the shinobi wars. He was going to teach that arrogant bastard some serious manners… Only… if… '_Oh, boy.'_

In only a few seconds he heard scream coming from the center of the circle.

"Yoff broke my nose, yoff bitch! Get her!" the voice although somewhat different definitely belonged to none other that the future head of Uchiha clan, Fugaku Uchiha, who was now holding his face with his hands. His nose was broken and bleeding.

Noriaki took one more step towards the crowd when he stopped, frozen with fear over what he saw next. With her long red hair fluttering wildly in the wind, she continued to pummel the Uchiha boys into the ground. Soon their screams filled the air.

* * *

Less then five minutes later (the time Kushina needed to beat up the Uchiha plus the time she needed to clean herself up) twenty meters from the academy schoolyard…

"Um, Kushina Uzumaki, right?" The red-haired girl turned around, only to se the black-hared boy who tossed his book at that Uchiha wimp.

"Yap, that's me, and you are?"

"Noriaki"

"And your last name?"

"Sorry, don't have one.", the boy gave a dry response.

She instantly knew she hit forbidden ground, and changing subject she asked.

"Why were you looking for me?"

"Well, my friends and I thought that we should give you a better welcome to our village, so we thought we should invite you to lunch at Ichiraku's.", Noriaki said. "Besides you should know that old man Shuhei Ichiraku makes the best ramen in the whole of Konoha, maybe even in the whole of Land of Fire!"

"If that's so… then where are all of your friends? Hmmm…" She looked at him suspiciously. "You're not trying to trick me to go to a date with you are you?"

Noriaki just face-palmed. Of all the…

"No I'm not trying to trick you. But we need to hurry." The girl seemed a bit curious, so he asked her.

"What?"

"Why do we need to hurry?" Upon hearing this, the boy grinded.

"Isn't it obvious! Minato is paying for everyone!"

"What's so important about that!"

The boy lowered his voice down to a whisper. "He called Choza."

"So? Who's that?"

The boy smiled mischievously. "Take my advice, Kushina. Do. Not. Call. Choza. Fat… Ever."

"Um, okay, I'll remember that… I guess, but why?" But the boy just turned around and started running down the street.

"You'll see! Now come on, everyone is waiting for us!"

"Okay!" That was the only word she could think of at the moment. People wanted her around? The whole shock left the usually loud redhead baffled. But hey! Someone wanted to meet her! She wouldn't pass up such an opportunity.

"HEY SLOW DOWN TTEBANE!"

* * *

Omake – The hard lesson (Two years before this fanfic)

It was already late in the afternoon as the Sandaime Hokake completed his most hated task of all – paperwork. As he walked down the streets of Konoha, the smile on his face broadened. The village was thriving, and the villagers happy. He watched as three young children played in the nearby courtyard. Deciding to step closer he saw the nine-year-old Minato playing with another boy and girl.

"Well hello there Minato, care to introduce this old man to your friends?" By their whispering voices, he knew no introduction was needed.

"Well what is your name little girl?" the Hokage asked.

"Mikoto Uchiha, Sandaime-sama."

"And who is your friend over there?", said the Sandaime looking towards the little black-haired boy standing next to her.

"This is Nori-chan, Hokage sama. His real name is Noriaki."

"Really, well nice to meet you Nori-ch-" He was immediately cut of as he felt a blinding pain in the region no man ever wants to feel. "…!", was the only thing the god-of-shinobi could say at the moment, as he watched the kids run off, chasing the little bast-… "…!" Still no words would come out.

'_My poor ANBU, what ever would you think of me now!'_ thought the so-called god-of-shinobi, painfully aware they were watching. '_If I catch any of them snickering behind their masks I'll show them why I'm called the god-of-shinobi!'_

"…!"

* * *

Author notes: And that is it for chapter one of my first Naruto fanfic "All wars are created equal." Hope you like it (Plus the omakeXD). Next chapter will be coming out soon, along with the second chapter of my Bleach fabfic "Book one- Choose your fate"

Oh yea, I almost forgot. I pretty much used all the Konoha 12 parents to make this work. There will be some OC but other than Noriaki they will be minor characters. There was a little bit of a problem with the individual age of their parents so I decided to simply put them all in the same group. On the side note, Sasuke's dad Fugaku is now pretty much an ass. It might change in the future.

_PS: Your reviews are very important. And the button is conveniently right below. Click it. Click it. Click it. _

_Well then…_

_See ya next time!_


	2. Chapter two: The genin exams

To _Jimy and Steph the book lovers, cholericDolphin, Princess of blah blah blah,_ and _Sweethearttya_ – your reviews mean more to me than you'll ever know… Thanks folks, sorry for the long pause I had very difficult exams to prepare for my faculty. And I still do. You know what's it like.

Mini author note:

"Konoha" –talking

'_Konoha__'_–thinking

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**_

Rating T (I guess)

Chapter two: The genin exams, Team 5 assembles!

It was only five days since they met Kushina Uzumaki, the newest addition to their class. And even though only five days have passed the two girls seemed to have become best friends.

"So these genin exams will take place in only two days?" the redhead asked, only to see the black-haired girl slam her head against the desk.

"For the ten millionth time, YES!"

"But what about me, I haven't been training for the exam, and I…" She paused, hearing a groan coming from the other girl.

"You'll do fine, for crying out loud. You already have beaten Noraki in taijutsu, and he was the best in class. And while you're not as good in ninjutsu as me or Minato, you sure can give Inoichi and the others a run for their money. And speaking of Nori-chan…", Kushina immediately noticed how the other girl's voice softened, as she begun to talk about her _Nori-_chan_, _who was more a brother to her than any Uchiha in the clan. "Do you know he actually tried to perform the kuchiyose no jutsu?"

"Really?" Now that was interesting! An academy student performing a kuchiyose?

"Not quite. You see, he tried… And failed miserably! To make matters worse he did so without the Summoning contact formed… You see where this is going… The idiot preformed the jutsu four times, each time summoning a completely blind helpless wolf pup." Mikoto stopped for a second, she couldn't help but giggle at the memory of what happened next.

"Well? Come on, don't stop now! What **did** he do?"

"He preformed the kuchiyose for the fifth time," now Mikoto was laughing again, " He did it, only to find himself facing the largest wolf I have ever seen! And guess what! It was the guardian of the four pups, he summoned before or something, and it was very angry at him for taking the pups to whom she was something like an older sister."

"She told him that, if he failed to avoid her for thirty-six hours she would eat him."

Kushina was stunned. Thirty-six hours, and against a very pissed off older sister wolf – poor kid.

"So, who saved him?"

"Well… That's why no one wants to fight him anymore, well no one other than Fugaku that is. Nobody saved him. He kept dodging the wolf's attacks, running all over Konoha and the surrounding forest for full thirty five hours before collapsing."

"Then how…" Kushina trailed off… If no one came to save him then… How is he still alive?

"The idiot is the luckiest guy I've ever meat. By the time he had fainted the wolf actually started to like the boy and decided to spare him." If only that was all… "She then did something totally unexpected – she took the four pups away, and returned to stay by Nori-chan's side until he regained consciousness and then gave him the Wolf Contract to sign." _'Lucky bastard'_ as Mikoto put it. "And for the next few days she would come to help him with his training, but told him that if he **ever** summoned the little pups without permission and not send them immediately back, she would gut him like a rabbit. He hasn't preformed that jutsu lately; he doesn't have enough chakra control to common anything other than those little pups."

"So… You're right, Noriaki is an idiot… And speaking of idiots, what about his blond friend?"

"Minato?" The black-haired girl asked. "What about him?"

"What's he like? I mean, like a shinobi?"

"He's… complicated. Let's just say he's a perfect hybrid of idiot and genius. He's usually all calm and smart, but then again you saw him in that ramen shop, right?"

"Aha, yea… Scary stuff, I still get flashbacks…" Kushina shivered at the thought. "Maybe I ought to visit them… Haven't seen either of the boys since then."

"Yea, if you want you can find them either at the Hokage monument or in Namikaze mansion!" Said the Uchiha girl, standing up, getting ready to leave. "Oh, and don't worry about the exams!" she added.

"What…? Oh no, the **exams**! I totally forgot!", the redhead shouted. "Damn you Mikoto, what am I to do?"

"Just ask those two idiots to help you out, okay? I'm sure they'll be happy to help.", she paused, and then added. "If something happens you can always bribe Minato with ramen, but just make sure you're out of options first!" _'That boy sure can eat a lot of that stuff.'_

Confused easily as always, Kushina only answered, "Um… Okay… I guess…"

She guessed she really could ask for their help_. 'After all one of them even has a summoning contract, albeit the fact he couldn't still use it' _it was the fact of how he got it that amazed her, _'while the other one was the most likely candidate for the title of the rookie of the year._' She might just ask them… She was pretty certain that the black-haired kid wouldn't refuse if she asked nicely, but as for the other one… Well, she could always offer ramen!

Grinning mischievously, she started walking. It was early in the afternoon… _'If I were a Hokage-obsessed idiot, where would I be? Hmmm, that's a tough one… Hmmm, I thing I've got it!'_

"To the Hokage monument, dattebane!"

* * *

Two days later, in the ninja academy – the genin exams begin!

"Next! Yoshino Nara!" The examiner called out.

"Wish me luck everyone!" the brown-haired girl immediately shot up and moved towards the doors behind which the exam took place. Everyone waved at her, some in the manner of cheering, others like _get going damn you _kind of manner. Half of the class has already taken the tests. They already saw Fugaku standing outside flashing his new Konoha forehead protector, to the frustration of most remaining academy students. Fugaku actually tried to get closer to the classroom, but seeing Kushina raising her clenched fist made him whimper and leave. Shikaku Nara and Choza Akimichi have also been through the door but unlike Fugaku, didn't return.

Of the remaining gang, there were Minato and Noriaki, Inoichi and Mikoto, Tsume Inuzuka and Kushina. As they were waiting, Tsume seemed to be getting evermore upset. She was the most likely to be next.

"Next! Minato Namikaze!"

The blond simply stood up, smiling. "Sorry Tsuna-san, looks like you got nervous for no reason!"

"Che! What makes ya think I was nervous, blondie?" Minato could only smirk at this. She was practically shaking.

The door to the test room reopened. "Minato Namikaze, please enter!"

'_Alright, alright… I'm coming, sheesh give me a break!'_ These examiners were definitely… How did Shikaku put it again? Ah, yes – troublesome, that's the right word.

As Minato entered the room, the doors closed behind him. The three examiners, who were sitting at the table, looked up and gave him a reassuring smile. _'Like I need one!'_

"Step in front of the table, Namikaze-san." Said the examiner to the left, an elderly man that served as their basic genjutsu teacher. Minato groaned. He didn't know that much about genjutsu, other than that the genjutsu techniques were illusions used to trap the enemy. He honestly hoped that he wouldn't be required to either perform or break out of a genjutsu.

'_If they ask me to do it, I'll shove those exam notes Noriaki gave me down his throat!'_

"Well now, these are the basic rules. Here are three sheets of paper. You will pick one of them at a time. Each sheet contains a certain set of questions and tasks you will be given. Out of these questions and tasks, we will chose ten for each sheet. To pass, you must answer correctly and complete at least five questions and/or tasks per sheet. If you pass the exam, we will use the results to decide into what team you will be assigned to. Do you understand what is being asked of you?"

"Hai!"

"Very good. Pick your first sheet."

Minato stood there, looking down at the three sheets of paper, wondering which one to pick out. Deciding on the one in the middle, Minato picked it up and read the title – Theory. _'Does fate have something against me? Why does this kind of stuff never happen to people who like this sortta stuff?'_ Never the less, he had begun answering every question the examiner picked out. In the end, he had seven correct answers out of ten. _'Hehe, I knew I would ace it!'_ His sheepish grin began to fade though, as he started to look at the other two sheets. _'Well, it's time for sheet two then… Now will see what I'm capable of.'_

His hand reached downwards.

* * *

"Oh, come on! Ninjutsu! I'm the taijutsu expert here! Tai-jutsu! Get it!"

"Noriaki-san, you have to pass ALL the exams to become genin! Even you must understand this!" the middle examiner yelled.

The black-haired boy simply pouted. "Alright, I get it, I get it…" and then he started yelling again. "What do you mean _even me_? What's that supposed to mean!"

"SHUT UP!"

"H-h-hai sensei…"

* * *

Ten minutes after Noriaki went through the exam doors.

Only two students remained inside the classroom. And one of them, a certain redhead to be precise, was not pleased.

"Oh, come on! When will it be my turn? Oh, come on, come on, COME ON, ALREADY!"

'_I'm dying of boredom here…' _

"Please stop your whining, Uzumaki-san. I'm sure you'll be next. And if you're not, you'll still be second in line…" Kushina's eye twitched. Who was this glasses-wearing weirdo anyway? It looked like he had something more to add. "All I'm trying to say is-"

"All I'm trying to say is that if you don't SHUT UP THIS INSTANT you won't be made genin today – you'll be in the hospital! Kapish?" The glasses wearing-kid just gulped.

'_Come on… I'm dying here! How long does it take to pass that damn test!'_ Kushina felt her head hitting the table. _'Come on… Hurry it up Noriaki or you'll be needing intensive care in the hospital's ER.'_

_

* * *

_

Inside the exam room, one twelve-year old boy felt cold sweat rolling down his spine.

'_I am so dead.' _And he wasn't saying it just because of the large killing intent that suddenly appeared on the other side of the door leading to the classroom, but because of what the examiners were asking of him this time.

"Listen, we've already told you that you've passed this exam. All we're asking you is…" _'To commit suicide'_ Noriaki thought. They didn't disappoint him. "…to perform your kuchiyose. You can do it, correct?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then do it." The examiner simply stated.

"But I-"

"Come on, we should let the boy go – it's obvious he can't do it. What did you expect – that an ordinary academy student could perform such a demanding technique? There is simply no way…" Okay, now that crossed the line! Of course, he could do it. He **would** do it… And then try to run for his life while the examiners get eaten.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" With a loud poof, a small puppy appeared on the top of the examiners table. "See, happy now?" Noriaki yelled at the examiners. "Now I gotta send it back before-" Another poof was heard, followed by a cloud of smoke. _'Shit – too late!' _The wolf was here. _'Hope I give her indigestion. And gas.'_

"What do you think you're doing with that pup, boy?"

Noriaki felt like a good scream might help him feel a bit better, but decided to stay quiet. Best not to further piss off an angry wolf. _'Especially this wolf.' _

"Now, now Asena-san, I'm sure I can explain this. There's no need to eat anyone, not even the idiot that goated me into-…" the boy gulped. _'I swear I never thought a wolf's eye cold twitch like that – well that can't be a good sign!'_

The next moment the room was filled with the sounds of a wolf laughing. _'Humans are so amusing! I should've threatened to gut someone a long time ago – their faces are priceless!' _

Throughout the whole boy/angry wolf conversation, the examiners remained quiet, trying to assess the boy's abilities. The summon it self wasn't impressive as it was, but given the fact that he was capable of performing it at all at such an early age indicated a lot of potential in the future. Turning their attention towards the second wolf, they noticed her snow-white fur and sky blue mane. Though you could never be certain with these summons, the examiners considered the wolf not an adult, but rather a near-grown-up youngling, maybe a teen. A teen with a troublesome attitude, nonetheless. She was just over one meter high. Most would think of her as a nuisance at most. Most would regret it if they said something like that aloud though, the examiners decided.

"Calm down and shut up, or shut up and then calm down. Or simply shut up. I'm not here to hurt you." The wolf looked around.

"Y-you won't?" The boy didn't seem too convinced. The wolf bared her fangs, as if she was grinning. Though it didn't help much. If her sense of smell was any indication then at least one of the examiners had just wetted himself. She tried her best to ignore the scent.

"Of course not, you idiot! You've signed the wolf contract! You're part of the pack now, like it or not!"

As the tense atmosphere in the room faded, the boy smiled.

"I know, Asena-san. I know. So why are you here then? I guess you haven't come just for the love of Konoha, am I right?"

"Well of course I have… Not. This place may have been nice before, but…", Asena made a choking noise, "… as of recently it STINKS of frogs. How can you live like this?" The boy just laughed at this.

"Most humans don't have such a powerful sense of smell. Lucky us."

The wolf tilted her head a bit.

"You were just making fun of me, weren't you?", she asked/stated, her eyes narrowing. The result was instantaneous.

"N-n-no way, Asena-san! I'm just-…" The wolf just shook her head.

"Save it. Seriously kid, you're way to tense." The wolf suddenly turned towards the wall to the left. Looking at the window, she spoke.

"You know you can come out now, Ookami."

In an instant, the air outside the window begun to distort, shimmering through various colors and shades, finally settling in a bright shade of gold.

It took the humans inside the room several seconds to recognize exactly what they were looking at. And then it hit them – it was a wolf, a huge horse-sized gold-scales-covered wolf. As his red eyes focused on the people in the room he just scoffed. _'Humans.'_

"You know…", in an instant, his massive form shimmered and faded, only to reform inside the exam room,. He was now only half of his original size.

'_Nifty.' _It was the only way the boy could describe the golden wolf that now stood before him. As for the examiners they had other things on their minds. Two of them immediately stood up, ready to sound the alarm and alert the Konoha shinobi. The third one remained in his seat – too embarrassed to move.

The golden wolf just shook his head.

"Relax, relax… I'm a Konoha summon, ok?" The examiners looked far from convinced.

"Then where is your forehead protector?" one of them demanded to know. The golden wolf, Ookami seemed surprised. _'Humans, go figure.' _

"It's kinda hard to stay invisible while wearing a forehead protector, don't ya think?" He sighed and continued. "I really don't have time for this. Asena, answer any of their questions and then return home. I got a mission to get back to." Ookami paused for a moment, and then added with a smile. "You might want to call in your next student. Her temper is getting worse." In an instant, the massive wolf reformed outside the classroom. "Don't say I didn't warn you!"

And with that he was gone in a puff if smoke. The boy and the remaining wolf turned around to face the three examiners.

"Any questions?" she asked them. She looked at their faces. "Didn't think so. Come on kid, get your forehead protector ad let's hit the road!" Her voice suddenly faded down to a whisper. "That is, unless you want to find out what's behind door number one?"

Remembering that there were only two students remaining in the waiting room, and who of the two was the girl in question, Noriaki simply grabbed his forehead protector and rushed through the second door.

* * *

Outside of Konoha, approximately twenty minutes later. A very annoyed sky-blue maned female wolf teen stood before the large gold-scaled wolf.

"So let me get this straight – you were on a mission, which you still haven't completed, and you just came by to check up on our newest member of the pack?"

"Ahem…" It was obvious that her companion was a bit embarrassed. "Yea, about that…" The gold-scaled wolf simply shook his head. "Don't mention any of this to that old fart, okay?"

It was obvious that the old fart comment would upset Asena, Ookami figured. It was hardly surprising, Nuntis was their leader for several generations, and very few forgot the tales of the legendary Sun-wolf, master of senjutsu chakra. Though he wasn't stupid enough to challenge Nuntis head-on, he very well knew that in his own field of expertise he was unsurpassed. Nuntis knew this fact as well. In the past two hundred years there was no assassin that could match the invisible, mist-like Ookami, whose teeth and claws could cut through any steel. So that knowledge made an uneasy truce – Nuntis would leave Ookami alone as long as the golden wolf performed his missions.

There was another problem with Ookami. Unless provided with a challenge, he was the laziest wolf in the world.

"Okay,okay… I'm going, I'm going…" Despite his words, he had yet to move a muscle.

"Just get going, NOW!" The young wolf yelled, and watched the golden wolf shimmer out of sight. _'Lazy bum…' _She waited a second and than, out of annoyance, said. "You know I can still smell you, right?" After hearing a _whatever _coming out of thin air, Asena felt her larger companion disappearing, for real this time. She looked up to the sky.

'_Might as well get going my self.'_

_

* * *

_Two hours after the exam…

Minato looked at the large clock on the wall.

'_We've been sitting here for a whole hour. When's our sensei gonna arrive? _He looked around himself and sighed in relief – all of his friends passed the exams. Tsume Inuzuka has left already with their sensei Daisuke Kohaku and her two team members, Hizashi and Hiashi Hyuuga.

As for others, it seemed that Inoichi, Choza and Shikaku would be in the same team. He heard Inoichi and Choza bragging about how legendary their Ino-Shika-Cho formation will become. He on the other hand agreed with Shikaku. '_Troublesome…'_

They were given a very unpleasant surprise when they saw Mikoto going of with Fugaku and another what's-his-name Uchiha – even their sensei was from the same clan.

As the team Uchiha, otherwise known as team 6 begun to leave Noriaki couldn't resist the urge to both make fun of Fugaku and comfort Mikoto at the same time.

"Hey, Mikoto-chan! If Fugaku and his gang give you any trouble, just call Kushina!" The black-haired boy shouted, flashing a huge grin. The result was instantaneous – Mikoto laughed, and Fugaku got red in the face. He actually made a step towards he boy, only to realize he had better things to do – like getting away from that red-maned demon, Kushina who in the meantime raised her fist towards him.

Minato, along with everyone else, laughed at this. Even though he himself had doubts at first, after several sparing matches with her he came to accept the fact that Kushina was very talented in taijutsu. Like a bonus, after the spar he demanded that Noriaki retell the fight between Fugaku and Kushina, and as a result of that the entire academy now knew the story. Even the Uchiha themselves made fun of Fugaku for his humiliating defeat. Add the fact that he was now scared of the redhead to the mixture and you get the laughing stock of entire Konoha.

So, all that was left was to wait for his future sensei – who ever he or she was.

'_That is, only if sensei decides to show – so far things are looking less then promising.'_

* * *

Half an hour later…

They were alone. Kushina looked at the faces of the two boys. It was obvious, both of them were rather angry at their sensei for being late. She herself was a bit disappointed, though. She hoped that she would be paired up with Mikoto, her only real friend in the village. Though she had other friends here, namely these two and their friends, Mikoto was the only one she could really talk to. She took a good look at the blond kid. Though he seemed like a wimp, she had to admit that that was only a front. He was much stronger. Even though on the outside he seemed just like a goofy kid, in his eyes she could see that he was as far form being dumb as one could get…

And as for the other one… Well… Kushina didn't know what to think of him. He was a total enigma. A kid who could perform a technique as complex as the Kuchiyose no jutsu, but couldn't do something as simple as a Henge… And he was an orphan with no knowledge of who his parents were, just that they died at the gates of Konoha. She was deep in thought when the door suddenly slammed open.

"Greetings, young shinobi! Feast your eyes on the legendary, the unstoppable, the irresistible, Gama sennin… Jirai-WHOA!" He yelled, seeing a chair flying only inches from his nose, smashing against the wall.

"Geez! Where did I walk in to – a war zone?" The white man yelled looking at the black-haired boy, only to jump back as a second chair flew through the place his head was a few moments ago. Shocked, he looked back at his soon-to-be students. The second chair was thrown by the redhead.

"What is with you kids?" he asked.

"YOU'RE LATE!" his two assailants shouted (in Kushina's case there was a _–ttebane!_ added to the end).

"What's your name, sensei?" The blonde asked. _'Finally, someone sane in here!'_ the man thought.

"Well, like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted… I'm-"

"Short version! Give us the short version **gramps**!" Noriaki said. He was not pleased with this gramps antics and wanted this to end. If only he knew the old saying – "You called down the thunder, now reap the whirlwind." And boy did he hit the spot!

"GRAMPS! GRAMPS! WHY YOU LITTLE PIECE OF A… YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT I'M ONLY TWENTY FIVE YEARS OLD, DAMN IT!" The white-haired man yelled out, his fists clenching with fury, as his face turned blood red from rage. "THAT'S IT! YOU FORCED MY HAND!" and with those words he whipped out the scroll from his pocket and tore it to pieces. "YOU WANTED A MISSION? WELL FORGET IT! YOU WILL HAVE TO TAKE A SURVIVAL TEST FIRST – BRAT!"

Noriaki looked at his new teammates. He could read their facial expressions, they were as clear as day. From Minato's _'Oh, shit'_ to Kushina's _'Dead meat'_ that forced him to gulp in fear. He'll have to remember not to call this guy gramps.

* * *

At the third training ground…

Minato gazed at the sky. It was nightfall. He could still hear Kushina yelling at Noriaki, shaking him to emphasize her every word.

"Damn! Why did you have to go and make him mad Noriaki!"

And it was such a nice day too…

"Alright! Gather up you three. This is how we're gonna do things." Their sensei reached for his pocket puling out two small bells. He then made a few steps towards the small monument stone and activated the clock. "You have until midnight to take them from me." He paused, then gave them his creepiest smile. "If you fail, I'll send you back to the academy." With that he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Minato frowned. Noriaki crossed his arms ready for anything.

Kushina took a step back.

"No…" It was just a faint whisper, but the boys heard her anyway. Minato reached for her.

"Kushina? What's wrong?"

'_It's obvious! They've been best friends forever!'_ Her hands began to shake. _'I just meet them… They'll leave me behind!'_ She tried to hold back the tears. She was shocked to see the two boys smiling kindly at her.

"You know Kushina, You really need to learn something here…" Minato said.

"Yea, when some one gives you an impossible choice…" Noriaki added.

"You beat the crap out of him!" The boys shouted in unison.

A single tear escaped from the edge of her eye, only to be wiped away by Noriaki. Minato took her hand.

"Come on. Lets go kick this guy's ass so we can go on a real mission."

"Yea…"

* * *

In the distance, Jiraiya watched his new students. He heard every single word the boys said, and to be honest, he felt proud of them. _'But this is not the perfect world kids. Bad thing can still happen, and you can't always win.'_ Sitting on a high branch, he smiled at the boldness of their claim. _'Beat the crap out of me, eh? This will definitely be an interesting night.'_ He jumped off, his hands forming a seal.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

_'I'll help you become strong. Count on it.'_

* * *

Authors notes: "ttebane" is just Kushina's pet phrase; her habit. It's just like Naruto, who uses "ttebayo"(or dattebayo – the difference between the to is based in grammar, it has something to do with verbs or something). Kushina uses the phrase only when she is nervous, embarrassed or excited (basically when she's on adrenalin XD). If I didn't use it correctly please let me know.

This chapter was a real blast to write. I did end up revealing more OC's than I originally intended for this chapter. Here are some interesting facts about them.

Noriaki's wolf summons:

Asena - A female wolf with a sky-blue mane and snow white furr. Has wind affinity. (Although described by Mikoto as large, Asena is was actually a lot smaller then other wolves both of her pack and wolves in general. The reason for this mistake was that Mikoto never saw a wolf in her life.) Asena is actually the youngest fighter in the pack. The name 'Asena' is the name of a wolf from a Turkish legend (The legend was strange and disturbing, but I liked her description and used it for this fic).

Ookami - A male wolf with color-changing scales (kekkei genkai). Stealth and assassination are his specialty. In the real world the word 'Ookami' can mean two things: Ookami(大神) literally means "great god", or "wolf"(狼). It depends on the spelling. On the side note, the character has nothing to do with the video game Ookami.

Hope you liked it, since it took a lot of work. **Don't forget to review!** (Seriously)

_Well then…_

_See ya next time!_

~KuroiTori-sama


	3. Chapter three: The genin exams part 2

Mini author note:

"Konoha" –talking

'_Konoha__'_–thinking

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**_

Rating T (I guess)

Chapter three: The genin exames, Team 5 assembles (part two)

It was night, and now what little daylight they had was gone. Still, they had to keep moving. They were tired, hungry and Minato was injured. Even though he himself called it nothing, Kushina couldn't stand looking at the cut on his back. She trusted Minato when he said it was just a scratch, but every time she would look at it… The way it went down his right shoulder… She couldn't stand it, couldn't stand that sign of her weakness. The top back of Minato's shirt was soaked with blood – and it was all hear fault.

(Flashback)

"Where do you think he is anyways, Minato?"

"I'm not sure. Be careful you two, my dad told me about this 'bell' test. All the fighting is real. If we're not careful we might get killed by accident." He watched his two teammates worried expressions. Without a doubt, he must have looked the same to them. "Dad wouldn't explain to me why there are only two bells for three genin, only that if I ever were to undertake such a test that I would have to find a way to figure it out – how to get all three of us to pass."

"So, in other words…" Noriaki said.

"Exactly. If we don't figure it out… We're done for."

They began moving again, hoping to pick up any trace their sensei might have left behind. Kushina had already suggested to split up in order to cover more ground, but Minato simply said that their opponent is a jounin and that if they were to separate he could take them down one at a time. Like it or not, they were depending on one another unlike ever before.

They moved beneath the treetop of an old oak tree hoping that the shadow of tick branches would hide them from view. As she took a step closer to the tree trunk, Minato pushed her as hard as he could. She fell.

"Minato, you asshole! What do you think you're do-" Her eyes went wide with shock. He was standing over her, his right hand on her lips and his eyes wildly scanning the surroundings. She looked around in panic and saw a bloody kunai half embedded in the earth she was standing on jut a moment ago. As he pulled her up, she saw him clenching his right shoulder. Lowering her voice, she asked.

"Minato? What happened?" Hearing no response brought up another panic attack. "M-Minato?" She asked again, her voice shaking. "Are you okay?"

As he finally turned to face her, in his eyes she saw only concern. "I'm fine Kushina. It's just a scratch. Don't worry yourself."

"A-a s-scratch? Are you sure? Do you want me to take a look at it?" Hearing her concerned voice, he only replied with a smile.

"No, there's no need for that. Noriaki?" He turned his head towards Noriaki, who was remaining silent and observed the surroundings looking for anything that may give away the position of the attacker. Then he finally saw it. Walking towards the tree, he saw an almost invisible string hidden in the dark.

"We seemed to have triggered a trap." He slapped his head in annoyance. "Damn it! We should have paid more attention to your old man, Minato! 'A shinobi must be able to see what's underneath the underneath.' Isn't that what the old man said?"

Minato could understand his friend's frustration. Kushina as well. Still facing towards her, he called for Noriaki.

"Hey, Noriaki! Think you can come over here for a moment?"

"Yea, sure. Why?" Minato just pointed his thumb at his shoulder.

"It's nothing serious, but we might as well stop the bleeding." Immediately Kushina stepped forward.

"I'll do it." Minato just shook his head.

"No, let Noriaki do this. He's done this before." With those words, he took of his shirt. "Come on, we have to get going soon – we have less than two hours to get the bells."

Noriaki stood silently behind him, and without a word began to place bandages.

(End flashback)

They were moving further and further from the stream and the monument stone. Noriaki hoped to find a way to win, but with the current situation… it just didn't seem to be a possibility any more. He was glad that his eyes were concealed in the dark as he placed the bandages over Minato's shoulder – if Kushina saw his expression when he looked at the wound… He understood Minato's decision, he knew that if she knew the truth she would only worry and blame herself – and that would help no-one. Looking towards the dark treetops a hundred meters from their position he couldn't help but wonder if their new sensei was watching them at this exact moment.

'_Most likely – yes.'_

_

* * *

_

Jiraiya was indeed watching them from those same treetops – or rather, one of his numerous clones was. And he was not pleased. It was only luck that the kunai hit the young blonde at such an angle. Any different and he could risk a serious injury, death even. Dispelling himself, the clone transmitted a warning to others, _'Dismantle potentially lethal traps!'_

The original frowned at this. Jiraiya was sitting on a branch of a tree near the entrance to the training field.

'_Did those goons at the academy overestimate these students?'_ he wondered. "If I knew I would have made the test simpler. Damn it!" With that he jumped down. It seemed that he would have to look for his students.

* * *

They sat down for a break. And no longer than a second, their sensei bursted out of the dark. Instantly he grabbed Noriaki, pushing him face in to the ground. The squirming form of a boy disappeared in a puff of smoke, replaced by a wooden log. Standing behind Jiraiya, with a triumphant grin was Noriaki, holding a very sharp kunai inches from the jounin's neck.

"You lose sensei." He was more than a bit surprised to see the man laughing.

"Not bad kid, not bad at all… But… Can you keep up?" With those words he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Noriaki could only curse.

"A bunshin with mass? Shit!" He was cut of from saying any more profanities when two more clones jumped out of the ground. The first punched him in the chest while the other went for Minato, only to be intercepted by Kushina's foot ramming into the side of his face. Noriaki dodged the remaining clone and pulled out his shuriken. Caught of guard, the clone was destroyed in a hale of metal.

'_Damn if I could only find the original. Stupid frog lovin'…' _and then it all clicked in._ 'Oh, now there's an idea…'_ He wanted to slap himself. _'I know how to find you now! Gama Sennin… You're mine now!'_ He slammed his palms together, forcing ever more chakra in them. _'Sure hope…'_ he ducked to avoid another clone's kick _'… this works!'_

"Kushina! Minato! I now how to beat him!" In an instant, their eyes were on him. "I can turn the tide! Just give me time!" He kicked yet another clone in the face, never separating his palms.

"How much…" _'Shit! How many more of these weird clones are out there!'_ Minato cured as he dodged and than stabbed his opponent with a kunai, "… time do you need?"

Noriaki only laughed nervously at this.

"In normal conditions? I think five minutes would be enough." He paused as he tried to pull himself off the ground after one of the clones managed to knock him down. "Right now… Is fifteen minutes too much?" He then braced himself for another kick form a clone. Realizing it never came he looked up only to see Kushina standing in font of him with a grin on her face.

"Fifteen minutes? Just watch me!" She then proceeded to bock another of the clones. She was kicked back, but maintained her balance. The clone gave them a murderous grin.

"Come on girly, show me what you go-" he stopped, his sentence half done, as he stared at a kunai lodged in his ribs. "Oh, you got to be kidding m-" and then he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Meanwhile Minato had trouble of his own. He had to dodge the combined attacks of three clones at the same time. To make matters worse he felt the distinctive warm and sticky feeling of blood flowing down his back. The jolt of pain in his right shoulder seemed to confirm it – his wound has opened up.

He looked back at his friends. _'I can't let them down now!'_ He swung his left arm, throwing a kunai at one of the clones then jumping to the left to avoid an ax kick. The other two clones jumped him in unison forcing him to leap backwards. _'This is bad! I need a distraction, now!' _He pulled out his smoke bombs. _'Only two? Just my luck' _Te tossed both of them. Once he and the clones were surrounded by smoke he moved his hands in to a seal.

"Henge no jutsu!" Now that the smoke had cleared up, the four Jiraiyas found themselves staring at each other waiting for any suspicious movements. Eyeing his surroundings ever so slightly, he saw that there were no new clones and that the remaining were handled by Kushina. The best of all was that Noriaki was still performing his jutsu. _'Sensei still hasn't caught up! Just how much longer, damn it!'_

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

"FUTON: YASEI HIMEI NO JUTSU!"

Minato felt a sudden burst of wind gush past him, echoing like a roar of some wild beast, blasting the three clones against the nearby tree. In shock, he let his disguise drop changing back in to himself. Looking towards the cloud of smoke created by the summoning, he could only think of one thing. _'WOW…'_

_

* * *

_

'_What the hell!'_ That was a bloody kuchiyose! _'What the hell did those kids summon?_' Even more important though, was the question of how can they do such a thing in the first place?

Going through the jumbled up memories of his clones he recognized Noriaki as the person doing the summoning. The worst part was the fact that all of his clones at the time were facing away from the boy.

"Just what did you summon, kid?"

* * *

Kushina was starring at the outcome of their skirmish with the clone army. And **it** had snow white fur. And a sky-blue mane. Piecing two and two together, she realized who the mysterious criture was. It was none other than the wolf Mikoto told her about. Hearing the wolf cough hard made her pay attention.

"Oh *cough* kid, why *cough* did ya * cough* call me out to this stinking forest!"

Did Noriaki look apologetic right now? Kushina wasn't sure. Listening carefully, she awaited his answer.

"I found who was stinking up this place, Asena-san. Ever heard of the guy called Jiraiya?"

The wolf in return said nothing, still trying to suppress the strong scent.

"Come on, Asena-san. We both know that Ookami taught you how to suppress strong scents."

The wolf looked at him with pure disgust.

"What do you think I'm trying to do here – dance?" She continued coughing, though a bit less than before. "So, what about Jiraiya? I've heard of him. If he's your enemy you better give up now… He's not someone you can take on."

Minato watched them talk, and then decided to step forward.

"We don't need to beat him. We just have to take the bells from him. But we can't track him down."

Asena made one last cough, then nodded. "I'll track him down for you." She looked at the three exhausted kids. _'I have no idea how they're gonna take on one of the legendary sannins… The can barely stand upright.' _She looked at them again, carefully._ 'But with that look of determination in their eyes… They don't even have a shred of doubt…It makes me fell silly for worrying.'_

She started running, the trio right behind her.

* * *

Jiraiya watched his three students approach his position through his 'research' spyglass. He was sitting on the top of a tree close to the stone monument – and the three poles. He felt a slight chill going down his back as he remembered his past with one of those poles. _'Stupid piece of timber…' _He looked at the kids again. _'Oh, what's this? A wolf? So, that's what they summoned… Interesting…' _Putting away the precious spyglass, Jiraiya leapt down from the tree.

Approaching the stone monument, he looked at the clock. _'This will be fun…'_

A young wolf led forward the charge. "He's just up ahead! If we hurry, we may catch him of guard!"

Minato pulled out his kunai. _'There! By the monument! I see him!'_ He prepared to throw the blade. Noriaki and Kushina did the same.

They heard a voice calling out to them.

"YOU'RE LATE KIDS!"

All three felt the same. _'Shit! When did he see us!'_

"FUTON: YASEI HIMEI NO JUTSU!" The sound of the wind echoed through the woods. Asena just stood there, feeling the massive surge of pain in her body. Collapsing to the ground, she saw the sannin standing next to her.

"You didn't think that I would be defeated by the same thing twice – did you?"

Asena could only snarl faintly. _'Looks like this is my limit… Sorry, Noriaki… Damn!'_ And then she was gone, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"You kids… I have news for you!" Jiraiya stood there, his arms crossed, watching the three kids standing in front of him. "The midnight…" He looked each of them in the eye, "…was five minutes ago."

He saw their depressed faces, as they simply stared at the ground.

"Then, all this…" Minato whispered "… was for nothing?"

"Not quite. There's still one last chase for you to pass this test." He saw how hope came back in the trio's eyes. Sadly, he would have to crush it.

"If you wish to pass, then decide… which one of you will fail." Seeing the shock and disbelief in their eyes, he added. "You understand what that means, right? Since you couldn't get the bells, I have to send you back to the academy. Now, I can send jut one of you, or I can send all of you. It's your choice. Pick."

"WANT ME TO CHOSE! HERE IS MY CHOICE!" Minato jumped forward, kunai in hand. He slashed outward, but Jiraiya caught his hand and twisted it. Before the kunai ever hit the ground, Minato was already tied to the wooden pole.

"So now, what to you two chose?"

Noriaki and Kushina looked at each other, nodding slightly. At the same time they spoke.

"Do you really need to ask that, sensei?" They charged at him, ready to fight. Fifteen seconds later, all three poles were occupied.

Jiraiya sat down, leaning against the tree. He shook his head.

"Damn, you kids are reckless nowadays! But…" He paused for a second, then continued. "How do I put this… You pass."

The kids were flabbergasted. _'Did he just say what I think he said?'_ Noriaki couldn't believe his ears.

"Hold on sensei! You were the one to say that we will fail if we don't get the bells! What gives?"

Jiraiya gave them a sinister look.

"What? You don't like it? Relax. I'll explain it to you – slowly. The purpose of this test is to see if the potential genins can operate as a team."

"So, even if we somehow managed to get the bells…" Kushina suddenly spoke.

"That's right. Without teamwork, I would have failed you nonetheless." He gave them his widest grin as he pulled out his kunai and cut the ropes that were binding them.

As they pulled themselves up, they saw their sensei giving them the nice guy pose.

"Alright! As of tomorrow! Minato Namikaze! Kushina Uzumaki! Noriaki! We are now oficially the team five of Konoha!"

* * *

As three kids and their sensei celebrated throughout the night, Mito Uzumaki watched them from the distance. She knew that the upcoming dawn would be her last on this earth. Before the sun would set, she would meet her fate.

Before the sun would set… She looked at the half asleep form of a young redheaded girl… Her successor.

Before the sun would set… They would meet, for the first – and last time in their lives.

* * *

Authors notes: Pheeeew! This was a mental workout. Hope you like it. As for next time, I have no idea when I'll be able to update.

Mini note: I would like to ask for a bit of help from you. Old man Namikaze (Minato's dad) will be making an appearance in the next chapter, and to put it bluntly – I got no idea how to call him. If you have a name to suggest, either post it in reviews or send me a message.

BTW: Were the fight scenes any good? Please answer me if you have an opinion (If you don't like it please say why).

Ninja techniques used:

Henge no jutsu – Transformation technique

Kuchiyose no jutsu – Summoning technique

Futon: Yasei himei no jutsu – Feral scream technique (Asena's)

_Well then…_

_See ya next time! (When ever that is…)_


	4. Chapter four: Last day of Innocence

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**_

Rating T (I guess)

Mini author note:

"Konoha" –talking

'_Konoha'_–thinking

A/N: Sorry everyone! It took me forever to get down and write this. A huge thanks to choco-rose, Kubani14, RaawrImaDinosaur, shinn55, sasusaku4freakinEver and NarutoSPsyren for reviewing. Sorry for this chapter being so short.

O-O-O

Chapter four – Last day of innocence

O-O-O

"Come 'ere, ya little…" Minato said, as he ran after a revoltingly ugly dog, with equally disturbing red ribbon tied around its neck. The mutt escaped into a small alley, but the blond gave chase. Seconds later, curses of various levels of profanity could be heard from his direction, along the racket of metal trash cans. Lying on the ground, Minato removed the smelly banana peel off his head, as a shadow blurred above him.

As his feet touched the ground, Noriaki turned around glancing at his rival.

"Don't worry! That little sack of ugly is as good as caught…" He trailed off, realizing that his other teammate walked into the alley carrying the little bugger in her hands. A conceited grin was on her face.

"Did I beat you to it? Sorry boys, more luck next time." She said, sticking out her tongue.

"Beginner's luck." The duo muttered out in unison.

"You're both beginners too, how do you explain that?"

"…"

Noriaki walked up to her, scratching the critter behind the ears.

"Let's take this poor excuse for a mutt back to Jiraiya-sensei. You know, this just occurred to me, but" he pointed his finger at the dog's face, "does this rat have fleas?" The result was instantaneous, as Kushina basically tossed the dog in Noriaki's arms with a disgusted yell.

"Ha! I caught 'im!" He quickly ducked to avoid Kushina's fist.

"That's cheating, you jerk!"

"Hey, all's fair in love and wa-!" He was cut off from finishing when Minato's palm smacked him on the back of the head.

"Just walk, butt monkey."

"No fair! You're ganging up on me!"

Kushina flicked his nose.

"What was it you said mere seconds ago? All's fair in love and war, right?"

As they walked out of the alley, they were greeted by a team of chunin, returning home from a successful mission. The men, noticing the animal in Noriaki's hands, began to point and laugh.

"Well would you look at that! Feels like an eternity that we had to do something so boooring! Hope it didn't take you too long to catch that pup, kids." He turned to smack one of his friends on the shoulder. "We had to chase after it a full seven times during our time as genin. Can you imagine that? Can't believe someone didn't put a leash on it yet." One of the other men leaned and whispered something to the speaker, upon which the chunin gave each kid a frowning glance, eyes finally setting on Kushina. Whatever was on his mind, he didn't say. He simply turned around, waving a hand to the others to follow him.

"Good luck on your next mission!" he simply added before he and the others left.

The trio looked in silence at the chunins until the unit turned around a corner and disappeared from their view. Finally, the calm was disrupted when Noriaki shouted, pulling his hand out of the dog's mouth. The dog barked triumphantly as it fell to the ground, then ran as if it has seen death itself.

"HE BITE ME! HE BITE ME!" Noriaki gritted his teeth, as his friends laughed at his wounded pride.

Minato slapped him on the shoulder.

"Let's go get that ugly bastard."

O-O-O

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

The sounds of water droplets hitting the floor was the only sound that filled the dark hallway, as a single figure moved silently through it. Despite there being no light, neither natural nor manmade, the figure moved confidently, as if it had walked this path times beyond counting.

'_Fifty… Fifty one, fifty two, fifty three…'_ The figure made one more step, then stopped. _'Fifty four steps.'_ Reaching for the intangible doorknob he knew was there, he grabbed it, and pushed. The sudden burst of light blinded the man, for he was a man, but he knew very well not to be foolish and move – the sound of kunai being drawn was something unmistakable.

"At ease." He heard the voice of the Hokage. The man blinked several times, as his sight adjusted.

"Hokage-sama."

The elderly leader of Konoha sat at a large table. Surrounding the table his students stood, observing the huge map of the land of fire. On it, there were multiple wooden figures. Some represented Shinobi villages, other civilian towns, and then again, there were the third type that was the regular military and forth that marked the approximate location of shinobi movement. Just on a quick glance, the man could see that the pale blue figures that represented the village of Hidden Cloud shinobi positioned too close to the Land of Fire's border. Pointing his finger at them, he muttered: "That can't be good."

"No, it most certainly is not." The Hokage replied, stroking his beard. "But for the moment, tolerable."

"You have summoned me, Hokage-sama?" There was no way it could be something good. Not when the meeting was in _that_ room. It was one of Konoha's best kept secrets, known only to the Hokage and his top three ANBU operatives… and apparently the Sannin too, since all three were looking at him.

And he was one of those top ANBU. The room was a secret of the first Hokage, and was passed down along with the cowl. The weight of the hard porcelain mask on his face suddenly filled him with pride. While he watched the Hokage go through a set of notes, he tried to remember all he knew of the place. It had powerful ninjutsu and genjutsu weaved into its walls, hidden in a maze of tunnels deep beneath the village. No one who didn't possess the exact knowledge of its location could see it. To them, the entrance would appear to be no more than a piece of wall. It looked that way even to those that knew. Ninjustsu to blind the Byakugan. Genjustsu strong enough to confuse the Sharingan. Both lost to the past. Only the Hokage seemed immune. But the man knew very well that that was not all the room had to offer. The walls of the place were heavily fortified by Doton ninjutsu, making it one of Konoha's sturdiest bunkers. And that staff hanging on the wall behind the Hokage…

"Ah!" Sarutobi Hiruzen exclaimed triumphantly, as he pulled a sheath of paper from the stack he was examining. "Here, take a look."

The man took the paper. The trench between his eyes deepened as he recognized the picture of the demon on the paper.

"So it falls down to me, then? Is the girl prepared?" The man was surprised when he saw the Hokage look away in shame.

"No. But we already explored other options. Mito-san's heart is failing, and Tsunade can delay the inevitable no longer."

The man stood silently, as conflicting emotions waged war within his soul, all hidden behind the ANBU mask.

The Hokage seemed to have guessed what was on his mind.

"You don't have to hide behind it here, Sora."

The man understood that as a permission to remove the porcelain mask, which he immediately did. He could hear Orochimaru smirk.

"Good to see you still have a face under that mask, Namikaze." Namikaze Sora grinned as he shook his friend's hand. "Good to see you too, Orochimaru. How's Konoha's number one scientist faring these days?" Just as Orochimaru opened his mouth to respond, the Hokage coughed dramatically.

"Shall we continue?"

Orochimaru and Namikaze muttered out their apologies.

"Sir, permission to speak freely?" Hokage nodded in response. Namikaze shook his head. "I don't like this. I don't like this at all. Sir, why is it so important to restrain the Biju within a small child? Why not me? Why not you? Why not Orochimaru, Jiraiya, or Tsunade, or… or… heck, anyone other than that girl?" The Hokage held his glare for a few moments, and then looked away in shame.

"We cannot. Like I already said, we tried other options. But only an Uzumaki can hold the beast in place without becoming a monster."

"Sir, I could-" But the Hokage immediately interrupted him.

"No, you could not. And neither could I."

Namikaze looked to the ground, not allowing his eyes to betray his emotions. "When?" He asked, simply.

"Twelve hours. That's how long we need to prepare everything." _'And may heaven forgive us for the sin we are about to commit.'_

O-O-O

(Later in the afternoon…)

"Run for it guys!"

With all the skill and might, young Minato did his best to keep the distance between himself and the pursuers. Rushing through the thick crowd of people in Konoha's market. Realizing that he wasn't gonna make it, he dived head-first through a fruit stand, much to the dismay of the vendor. He readily landed on his palms and propelled himself high up into the air. With the corner of his eye, he saw their pursuer closing the gap to Choza.

"Behind you big guy!"

Choza tossed a quick glance behind him, and picked up the pace, while sweat flowed like torrents down his red cheeks, as he struggled to catch a breath. Suddenly, a manhole in front opened, and Inoichi raised his head out of it and waved his hand. Without hesitation, Choza jumped down the manhole, disappearing in the sewer tunnels beneath.

That meant Minato got the bullseye painted on him again.

'_Damn it.'_

As he ran across the rooftops, a flash of red startled him, and he quickly leaped down into an alley, hiding himself from view inside a large trash container. Hearing footsteps, he pulled the remains of a large torn up cardboard box on top of himself.

That's when he heard voices.

"Damn!" he heard a girl swear. "I'm sure I saw him jump down here."

'_Mikoto.'_ The young Namikaze recognized her.

"Let's keep looking." And that would be his teammate, Kushina. "He couldn't have gotten far. Let's go!" There was a sudden sound of shunshin, and Minato assumed the girls were gone. Not that he would move for at least another ten minutes or so. That's how they got him the last time. He took the time off to catch his breath and do a quick recap.

'_Choza and Inoichi are still on the run, as far as I can tell… __Shikaku is at our home base… Inoichi got him… The girls are out looking for me… I caught that kid whose name I can't remember, so that's 2:1 for us.'_ So, who's the one on his team that got busted?

O-O-O

Sitting on the bench at the opposite team, Noriaki sneezed.

'_Some beautiful girl must be thinking about me right now…'_

O-O-O

Time to move. Tossing the cardboard off himself, Minato jumped out of the container, frowning at several smelly stains of questionable origin on his clothes. He quickly went through his hand seals. "Henge." And in an instant, he was meter-eighty-four, with short cut blond hair, wearing the white trench coat with the red symbol of fire on his back. The shinobi forehead protector turned black, and its ends doubled in length. All a spitting image of his father dressed in civilian clothes. There was no way his disguise would fool most chunin, and jonins were out of the question entirely.

But then again, neither Kushina nor Mikoto ever really met his father.

O-O-O

The redhead kicked the trashcan, knocking it over. "This bites."

"Ease off, Kushina-chan." The black haired Uchiha girl said, with her arms crossed."We'll get them, we just gotta outsmart them, that's all."

"Yeah… outsmart them. We had them on the ropes! Why didn't you go after them when they jumped down that sewer?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"I would have!"

"…no you wouldn't." Mikoto said with a smirk. She pulled her hair behind her ear as she watched her friend get uncomfortable.

"Okay, probably not." Kushina confessed after a short pause.

"See? My point exactly." This caused the redhead to sigh.

O-O-O

"Bored." Noriaki bounced a small ball against the wall. "Still bored." Where the hell was everybody? "Dying of boredom here…" The street at red base was completely deserted. No passersby, no nothing.

'_Except me. Whoop-de-****ing –doo.'_ Somewhere out there, the universe was laughing.

O-O-O

A/N: Well, this is embarrassing. I finally took up writing AWACE after all this time, but once I got this far, I just couldn't keep writing anymore, at least not within this chapter. I had to end it here, it just felt right. Please forgive this useless author, he did his best. I wanted this chapter truly fit its title, so I hope that worked.

BTW, I wonder how many of you figured out my little running gag with the nameless kid making cameos throughout the story?


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